Assessment of DNA damage and oxidative stress in juvenile Channa punctatus (Bloch) after exposure to multi-walled carbon nanotubes

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) have many applications in industry and used as additives in polymers, catalysts, anodes in lithium-battery and drug delivery. There is little information about MWCNTs' (210 nm) genotoxic potential on juvenile freshwater fish Channa punctatus. Therefore, in this study, we have determined the toxic effects of MWCNTs on freshwater fish C. punctatus by assessing toxicological endpoints such as oxidative stress, mutagenicity, and genotoxicity after acute MWCNTs exposure for 5 days. MWCNTs LC50-96 hours value for C. punctatus was 21.8 mg/L and on this basis three different MWCNTs concentrations were selected, that is, sub-lethal I, II, and III, for 5-days exposure trials with C. punctatus. The level of lipid peroxidation increased in the gills and kidney of exposed fish at sub-lethal concentrations II and III. Contrastingly, glutathione decreased more in the gills than in the kidney. The activity of catalase enzymes decreased more in the gills than in the kidney at sublethal concentrations I and II. Glutathione S-transferase decreased in gill tissue but increased in kidney tissue following sub-lethal III exposure. Moreover, the level of glutathione reductase decreased in both tissues. In addition, MWCNTs genotoxicity was confirmed by DNA damage in lymphocytes, gills, kidney cells, and production of micronuclei (MNi) in red blood cells of freshwater fish following sub-lethal I, II, and III exposures. In conclusion, this study revealed that application of micronucleus and comet assays for in vivo laboratory studies using freshwater fish for screening the genotoxic potential of MWCNTs.